Desperate Sunset by Mike Yeo

Author:Mike Yeo
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2019-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

This was the scene at Kanoya airfield just prior to the departure of Lt Cdr Goro Nonaka’s 15 G4M2e “Betty” motherships and their Ohka manned aerial bombs (and three pathfinder “Bettys”) on a mission to attack TF 58 carriers operating off Japan on March 21, 1945. Virtually all of these bombers, from the Jinrai Butai, were shot down by defending US Navy fighters and no hits were scored. (NARA)

Only a small number of G4M2s were modified to carry the Ohka, and they were designated G4M2e Model 24Js once converted to do so. With an Ohka on board, the “Betty” was even more vulnerable than usual, and it proved an easy target for American fighters. Since the maximum range of the Ohka was only 20 nautical miles, it was extremely problematic to fly a slow, ungainly “Betty” bomber within range of a target. Despite an insufficient number of escorting “Zeke” fighters, that was exactly what the Jinrai Butai attempted to do on March 21, 1945. Here, the “Betty” crews sit at Kanoya waiting for the order to take off. (NARA)

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